"Covered entities must comply with the new privacy standards beginning on December 23, 2024. The delayed compliance date allows time for employers to revise HIPAA privacy policies, procedures, notices, and other HIPAA documentation, as well as train employees who work with protected health information (PHI)."  MORE >>

"In order to establish a better fiduciary process, ... plan sponsors should: [1] Establish a health and welfare plan fiduciary committee and defining its duties and powers in a charter; [2] Document committee responsibilities and decisions in the charter and in meeting minutes; [3] Develop committee processes for selecting medical third-party administrators and PBMs and monitor those on an ongoing basis; and [4] Report the compensation of consultants and brokers."  MORE >>

51 pages. "As large health care conglomerates, some have argued that these PBMs' vertical integration with insurers and pharmacies would better position them to improve patient access and decrease the cost of prescription drugs. Instead, the opposite has occurred: patients are seeing significantly higher costs with fewer choices and worse care.... This report describes the Committee on Oversight and Accountability's findings that PBMs inflate prescription drug costs and interfere with patient care for their own financial benefit."  MORE >>

13 pages. "Pharmacy benefits costs continue to rise year over year, driven by a variety of factors such as novel treatments, consumer demand, and federal legislation.... Based on drug mix through 2023, [Milliman projects] an overall average wholesale price (AWP) increase between 13% and 17% annually among commercial plans from 2023 to 2025. "  MORE >>

"If accepted, the new request to state regulators would increase premiums for individual health plans by 21% and small group plans by 24% in 2025."  MORE >>

"Patient steering, self-dealing formularies, spread pricing, take-it-or-leave-it contracts, the fee-for-nothing scam … legislators have seen enough that the PBM-insurers can no longer obfuscate these important issues. We applaud the committee for its work and encourage its members and the rest of their colleagues in Congress to finish the fight. Finalize PBM reform now and rein in these and other harmful PBM tactics"  MORE >>

"In a sharp departure from her Texas judicial counterpart, Judge Hodge concluded that a preliminary injunction would be improper because the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania case had not demonstrated that they would suffer any irreparable harm in the absence of such relief.... Judge Hodge also opined that the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania proceeding are unlikely to succeed in their substantive challenge to the Final Rule." [ATS Tree Services, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 24-1743 (E.D. Penn. Jul. 23, 2024)]  MORE >>

"[1] AI can be a great antidote for writer's block ... [W]hile AI can provide an excellent starting point, it lacks nuance and emotion.... [2] For employee questions, a chatbot offers answers in a conversational, straightforward way.... The tool is only as helpful as the data used to build it.... [3] Some organizations use AI to analyze their population's HR data to effectively target messages.... Some organizations have limited the use of AI due to privacy or copyright concerns."  MORE >>